COASTGUARDS DEATH PROBE OVER MIGRANTS
Four perish after ‘Mayday neglect’
BRITISH coastguards may face criminal charges in France following the deaths of four UK-bound migrants in the Channel.
Refugee aid charity Utopia 56 has filed complaints of involuntary manslaughter and failure to render aid with the Boulogne-Sur-Mer public prosecutor relating to a maritime disaster in 2022.
On December 14 that year, 48 people on a small boat, including Afghan and Iranian nationals, ended up in the sea. Four drowned.
Rescuers pulled many from the water in the early hours but the charity claims both British and French operatives were too slow.
The boat was piloted by Senegal national Ibrahima Bah, 19, now on trial at Canterbury crown court on four counts of manslaughter and one of breaking immigration law. Bah, himself a migrant, denies wrongdoing.
He claims he was assaulted by people smugglers and threatened with death if he did not pilot the craft. As Bah’s trial continues, French authorities will focus on any possible culpability by official agencies.
A legal source in Boulogne said those facing allegations are members of His Majesty’s Coastguard, the Maritime Prefect in France, and the director of the Cross Gris Nez emergency centre near Calais.
The source said fines and prison time were possible outcomes.
Tapes released by Utopia 56 reveal migrants’ pleas for help to its own emergency line as the boat sank at 2.54am. Someone says on the tape: “Please help. We have children and family in the boat.”
Utopia 56 reportedly then emailed French maritime safety organisation Cross Gris Nez and British emergency services, but alleges it was not until 3.40am that the first rescue boat left England.
English fishing boat Arcturus joined the rescue, saving 11. One victim was a man called Hajratullah Ahmadi. The others are unidentified.